


"Bound and Gagged"

by AspiringAuthor29



Series: Bad Things Happen To Spencer Reid Bingo [6]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Anxiety, Bad Parent William Reid, Derek loves his Pretty Boy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, In the kidnapping type way, M/M, Only from William Reid, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Restraints, Spencer Reid Gets a Hug, Spencer Reid Has Self-Esteem Issues, Spencer Reid Needs a Hug, William Reid is a horrible person, beatings, very slight homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-22 00:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AspiringAuthor29/pseuds/AspiringAuthor29
Summary: Spencer is used to being invisible. To people shying away from him and calling him "freak" just because of his brain. He didn't think that this new school was going to be any different, at least until he meets one Derek Morgan and his friends. But Spencer is also hiding a dark secret, one he's been hiding for years and is too terrified of the consequences to voice.
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Minor Aaron Hotchner/Haley Hotchner, Minor Jennifer “JJ” Jareau/William LaMontagne Jr., The BAU Team & Spencer Reid
Series: Bad Things Happen To Spencer Reid Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003854
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	"Bound and Gagged"

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! So this is my first Highschool AU. I really hope I do it justice. There are some warnings on this for abuse and some dark themes. Also, I don't own Criminal Minds! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Note: For the sake of this story, Derek's dad never died. Because of this, he never needed to seek out a father figure and Buford never happened. Just keep that in mind in case his father is mentioned.

"Derek! Hey, wait up, will you?"

Derek Morgan turned towards the sound of his name being called. Upon identifying the owner of the voice, he smiled and stepped to the side in order to let Emily Prentiss catch up. Even though she was yet to hit her growth spurt and was therefore shorter than a good many of the students in the sea of people flooding the halls, she radiated such a fierce, dangerous aura, though, that she had the crowd parting for her like some sort of gothic Moses. The spiked choker and exaggerated black makeup probably had something to do with it too, however.

"God Derek, wait for a girl, huh? Some of us still need heels to reach the top shelf," Emily huffed. To an outsider, it might have seemed that Emily was angry at the world; to Derek though, he could detect the hidden tease beneath her bite. She was a difficult person to get to know and even more difficult to understand, but once one took the time, they not only came to love the brooding, sarcastic goth that was Emily Prentiss, but they also gained a protector for life.

"It's not my problem that you're short." This earned him a solid thump to the chest that actually forced the wind out of his lungs. Man could that girl hit.

"Well, what do you want me to say? Vertically challenged?" Emily just rolled her eyes and muttered something about cocky smartasses under her breath.

Derek glanced at the digital clock across from them and felt a thrill of panic shoot up his spine when he realized the hall was now mostly empty. "Shit! We're gonna be late!"

Emily briefly glanced to the side and half-jogged, half-ran to keep up with Derek who was already halfway down the corridor. "What are you so worried about? It's fifth period. We've got Gideon's Psych class. He wouldn't care if we walked in halfway through class."

Derek didn't even look at her as they rounded the corner leading to the Psych classroom. His backpack bounced against him comically as they ran. "He might not care, but he won't think twice about marking us late. I can't afford a tardy mark on my record."

Emily wheezed out a laugh. "Never heard of a football jock with perfect attendance. Really kissing up for that scholarship, aren't we?"

It was Derek's turn to roll his eyes. He came to a sudden stop by a plain wooden door with a single glass pane and knocked. Not more than a moment later, the door swung open to reveal a pretty blonde girl with her hair up in a high ponytail, a cream-colored sweater, black leggings, and tan ankle boots. She sent them a disapproving look as they both entered, and the door closed behind them.

"About time you guys showed."

"It's nice to see you too, JJ," Emily muttered and slid into the desk next to her. Derek hurried to the row behind them and took his seat next to one very perky, very brightly dressed Penelope Garcia.

She was practically vibrating in her chair with all of the energy of a kindergartener. In her fuchsia and black dress, navy blue sweater, matching pumps, and sparkly makeup, she could have easily been mistaken for one too.

She leaned across the aisle to have better whispering access with Derek. "I thought I was going to have to launch a search party to look for my missing Chocolate Adonis."

Derek sent her a flirtatious smile. "What? Was my Baby Girl worried about me?"

"Not particularly. It's just that it's early and I haven't had my daily dose of chocolate perfection yet. I was hankering for a fix."

Up front, Gideon cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows expectantly in the pair's direction. Penelope immediately straightened in her seat and sent him her best innocent smile while picking up a pink fuzzy pen from her collection. Gideon just shook his head in exasperation, a hint of an amused grin on his face, and turned to the board.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Abraham Maslow's "Theory of Human Motivation". He identified five levels which, in order, are: survival, safety, social, esteem, fulfillment. Over the course of the next few days, we are going to be exploring what each of these five levels mean along with how they affect human behavior on a day to day basis. Today we're starting with survival; an instinct that, when one truly gets own to the basis of all nature, is the root cause of most actions we take each moment, even if we ourselves don't truly realize that what we're doing is in the act of that very instinct."

Derek was scribbling away in his notebook, trying to ignore David Rossi's very loud, very exaggerated sighs from the back row. He could act bored all he wanted; they all knew that Gideon's Psych course was everyone's favorite subject, hands down. It didn't matter who you were or what kind of student because Gideon just had a way of connected with every student in a way no other teacher could.

A knock on the door interrupted Gideon's little speech and had JJ giving an irritated sigh as she turned from where she had been not-so discreetly ogling Will down the aisle and got up to open the locked door once again.

The tension that immediately shot through the roof of the classroom was almost palpable when Principle Strauss was revealed on the other side. Dressed in a smart grey skirt suit, an air of arrogance and superiority followed her wherever she went. Every person, student and faculty alike, despised her. Well, aside from Rossi who took extreme pleasure in irritating her by wolf whistling when she walked by or making dirty comments just loud enough for her to hear, but that was beside the point. Getting called to her office was much like getting called to one's own execution, so a classroom visit could only mean two things. Either they were in deep, deep trouble...

...Or they had a new student.

Derek didn't need to look far to see that it was the latter. A young man was hovering nervously in the doorway, his eyes flicking across the room almost as if he were paranoid that someone was about to jump him. He was tall, thin, and pale white, much thinner and paler than Derek thought was supposed to be healthy. He had chestnut brown hair that fell in gentle waves and curls to just above his ears. He also wore a dark wine-colored button down with a black sweater vest, black dress pants, a silver watch, and, much to Derek's amusement, a pair of Converse high tops. He had a brown messenger bag slung across his body, the straps worn and soft from use. He was wringing said straps to death between his hands as he stood in the doorway, shifting his weight from foot to foot with nerves. He noticed that the other man chewed on the corner his bottom lip, his eyes shifting down and a soft glow lighting his cheeks whenever he thought someone was looking at him. Derek began to wonder what color those eyes were...

He quickly snapped out of his own spiraling thoughts. He didn't even know the kid's name yet! He could be the most rude, obnoxious person alive for all he knew. Doubtful, considering he looked like he was one loud noise away from bolting, but still possible. He couldn't judge his character just because he was good looking. And anyhow, it was his first day at a brand-new school, two months into senior year. He was probably nervous as hell and didn't need someone hitting on him. And, most importantly, there was the tiny problem that he very well may not be into guys. With Derek's luck, he'd end up pining for a guy who, you know, _didn't even like guys_.

"Students, I would like to introduce you to Spencer Reid. He has just transferred here from Las Vegas. I need you all to be on your best behavior and make him feel welcome. If I hear that anyone has been making him feel anything less, that person will find themself sitting in detention quicker than you can apologize." With a curt nod in Gideon's direction, Strauss left the room and closed the door behind her, effectively shutting Spencer inside.

Gideon cleared his throat again. "Well, as Principal Strauss said, welcome Spencer. I hope that you don't have too much trouble settling in and if there's anything I can do to help, please just let me know. You can take a seat in the second row beside Derek."

Derek sat up a little straighter, his heart rate picking up. Slowly, Spencer made his way down the aisle. His cheeks were practically on fire, the redness reaching all the way to the tips of his ears; he was no doubt hyper aware of the entire class staring at him. He fumbled with the strap on his bag for a moment until he managed to get himself situated and slumped down into his seat.

"Alright, as I was saying..."

Derek snuck a glance at Spencer, only half listening to what Gideon was saying. The other teen had no notebook and no pencil out on his desk. His eyes were cast downward, reading a book with a well-worn spine tucked under his desk. What amazed Derek wasn't the fact that Spencer was apparently paying zero attention, something that severely contradicted his nerdy looks, rather it was how fast Spencer was reading. His finger would start at the top of a page and he would drag it downward in a line fairly quickly before moving on to the next page. Watching him was almost making Derek sick, he didn't think anyone could actually read that fast. He quickly concluded that he had to just be skimming the pages.

For the duration of the rest of the class, Derek only half took notes, the other half of his being somewhat creepily watching Spencer read. It was almost mesmerizing; his finger moving at the same pace each time, the pages flipping in the same rhythm. Every so often, a longer lock of hair would fall into his eyes and he would reach up to brush it away. Spencer didn't even seem to notice him watching, he was so lost in the text. Even if he were just skimming, Derek decided that he could happily watch him do it all day without complaint.

He barely even noticed that class was over until Spencer had suddenly disappeared and Penelope bounced a paper ball off of his head. "It's time to go Chocolate Thunder. Unless you want to stay, which in that case, I'm leaving you here. I've got tech lab next period and I'm not missing it just because you're drooling over the new boy."

His head snapped up to glare at her even as he stuffed his notebooks into his bag. "I was not "drooling" over him. I was merely amazed by how fast he could read."

"Uh huh, and I'm not the best oracle at this school. You were totally checking him out." She put her hands on his shoulders. "And that's a good thing! It's about time my love finds one of his own. You haven't even asked anyone out this year! You should ask him to sit with us at lunch."

Derek grinned and shook his head. "Why am I not surprised you've been keeping tabs on my love life?"

"What can I say? I want all my doves to be happy! Excuse me if that means pairing you off together. I've almost made it with JJ and Will."

"Come on, matchmaker. I promise, I'll try if you'll leave me alone about it. I don't want my tech girl to be late for her computer class. That's just bad irony."

"I'll be remembering that promise Derek Morgan, even if you're being silly and actually thinking I'll let this go."

Derek grinned after her and began his trek to Calculus. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone with a messenger bag leaning into a locker, seemingly trying to just stay out of the way as the sea of students swarmed past him. Derek shoved his way through the bodies towards Spencer, hoping to take Penelope's advice.

Spencer was turned around, his head almost in his locker. Derek came up and tapped his shoulder, but he didn't expect him to jump so violently that he cracked his head on his locker. He whirled around, his eyes the size of quarters and a look of panic lacing his features until he recognized Derek.

"Hey! Sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?" Derek winced as Spencer reached up to touch what was no doubt becoming a lump on his head.

"Uh y-yeah, yeah I'm...I'm fine." Derek's heart fluttered in his chest. His voice was soft and uncertain, nothing like the matter-of-fact tone he had been expecting. "Your name's Derek, right? Sorry, I didn't, um, mean to remember it. Don't th-think I purposefully listened for it. Oh, I didn't mean it like that! It's not that I didn't think your name was worth remembering, oh um, that came out wrong too-"

Derek cut him off with a chuckle. But that wasn't all. Sure, he found it funny, but the brunette's nervous ramblings were adorable, too. "Hey, hey it's all good. I'm the only name you heard. I would have been kind of worried if you didn't remember it." Spencer's cheek turned red in a way Derek had learned seemed to be characteristic for him.

"So, um, did you need something?"

Derek shook his head. "Nah, I just wanted to see if you needed help finding anything. This place is kind of hard to navigate if you don't know where you're going."

Spencer gave him a shy smile that caused Derek's very disobedient heart to kick into overdrive. "Yeah, actually, that would be great. Could you maybe tell me how to get to the AP English room?" Spencer pulled out his schedule and showed it to Derek.

"Sure thing. The room's right next to where I'm heading." Derek gave a low whistle as he scanned the schedule and lead Spencer down the hall. "All AP classes? What are you, some sort of genius?"

Spencer gazed at the floor. For a moment, Derek could have sworn he was ashamed. He was about to change the subject when Spencer spoke up.

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words a minute." He looked at Derek with apprehensive eyes and then sighed defeatedly, gazing back at the floor. "Yes, I'm a genius."

Derek nearly stopped in the middle of the hall. That was not what he'd been expecting when he had jokingly made the comment. All he could stupidly say was, "So that explains how you were reading so fast."

Now it was Derek's turn to be embarrassed when Spencer looked at him with surprise. "I just noticed that you were reading, like, really freaking fast in the last class. I thought you were just skimming the pages," Derek explained hurriedly. Spencer was still looking at him in surprise, maybe even a little bit of awe.

"What?"

"You're not...disgusted?"

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Disgusted? Why would I be disgusted?"

Spencer's eyebrows creased like he was confused. "Well, it's just that most people are disgusted by me. They look at me like I'm a tool. Like I'm just a freak."

"I don't think you're a freak," Derek said gently. "You're different and I think that's cool. We need different people in the world."

Spencer didn't look convinced, but Derek didn't have time to assure him anymore before they arrived at the desired classroom. "Spencer," he called. The genius turned back around in the entrance to look at him. "You want to sit with me and my friends at lunch?"

An unidentifiable emotion flitted across his face. "I don't exactly have a good track record with football teams."

Derek decided to ignore the fact that Spencer had somehow figured out he was on the football team without him ever mentioning so and instead opted to reassure him that he needn't worry.

"I don't sit with the football team. Just because I'm on the team doesn't mean that I want to hang out with them any other time. Honestly, I think most of them are arrogant, braindead jerks. I sit with my real friends, most of which were in our Psychology class. They won't mind, I promise."

Spencer nodded slowly. "Alright, I don't see what it could hurt."

"Great! I'll wait for you outside your government class. It's the last period I saw on your schedule before lunch."

"See you then," Spencer murmured softly as he watched Derek disappear into the room across the hall.

0000

It was safe to say that Spencer was beyond surprised when he came out of his government class and found Derek waiting there for him like he promised. Always being the smartest person in any room really tended to make people shy away from you, not to mention that he was hopeless in any social situation, stuttered when he got nervous, rambled when he was excited, and probably had a serious case of undiagnosed anxiety. All in all, the particular combination didn't exactly have him surrounded by friends.

He had gotten so used to being made fun of, so used to being left out, that it was somewhat frightening when Derek _actually_ kept his word. Spencer lived by the code that if something was too good to be true, it probably was. Someone, especially someone as kind and funny and confident…and handsome as Derek, wanting to have any sort of communication with him was beyond his level of comprehension, and that was saying something. But he wasn't fooling himself, not after he had been fooled by his own naivety so many times in the past; he was simply waiting for the moment when Derek dropped the good Samaritan act of helping out the new kid and left him to fend for himself just like everyone else.

In his mind, anyone, especially someone like Derek, wanting to consort with a freak like himself just wasn't plausible.

However, just because he knew Derek was only being nice to him for his own self-image didn't mean that he wasn't going to relish in the kindness for as long as he could. He could accept the hospitality while simultaneously being completely prepared for the moment when that warmth disappeared. It wasn't like he wasn't used to it; he had spent his entire life only getting love and compassion from his mother and even that had been taken away from him by the man who's name occupied the "father" line on his birth certificate.

Nevertheless, he gave Derek a small smile as he left the room, the other teen returning it with a mega-watt grin of his own, acting as if seeing Spencer was truly a good thing. _How hilarious_ , he couldn't keep himself from thinking sardonically as he fell into step beside Derek.

As they wound their way through the halls (for which Spencer was grateful Derek was there because if not, he knew he would have been hopelessly lost, even with an eidetic memory that allowed him to remember a route the first time he took it), the smile that Derek had given him slowly slid off of his face. If the nearly physical awkwardness between them wasn't enough proof that the dark-skinned teen was desperately trying to think of something to talk about, then the way Derek kept glancing in his direction and immediately diverting his gaze was.

"So, what were you reading?" Derek asked finally, making it sound as if that hadn't been the question he had meant to ask.

Spencer's heartrate momentarily spiked in panic until he told himself that William wasn't here. That he didn't need to hide something as simple as a book just because it represented everything that his father was ashamed of in him.

"Um, it's…it's "The Book of Margery Kempe"," he said softly, reaching into his bag and fondly stroking the aged spine of the novel. "She's one of my mom's favorite authors."

It wasn't something he told most people. Not that he really talked to anyone, but even then, his mother was a subject he liked to avoid at all costs. His entire family, for that matter. Not that he was ashamed of his mother, far from it actually, it was just that finding out his mother was a paranoid schizophrenic was something people added to the very long list of "reasons not to consort with Spencer". Silently, he prayed Derek wouldn't pry any farther. Even mentioning something as simple as his mom's favorite book had anxiety coiling in his stomach.

Derek seemed to understand that something about their current subject was making Spencer uncomfortable, so he simply nodded and said, "Cool. I've never read any of her stuff since I struggle with old literature, so your mom must be one smart lady to understand it."

Spencer smiled fondly. "Oh, she is," he murmured almost wistfully.

Before the topic could be further pressed, the pair arrived at the cafeteria. Spencer wiped his hands on his pants in an attempt to rid them of then nervous perspiration that had gathered there. Just hearing the sheer amount of voices coming from the other side was enough to have him silently panicking.

"Come on now, you're good. Just ignore everyone else," Derek muttered encouragingly, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder and leading the way into the large gathering space.

Despite the fact that the hand was causing butterflies that he would definitely have to squelch and reprimand himself for later to flutter in his stomach, he used that same hand to ground him as Derek maneuvered him towards a able in the back. That hand though. He had hurt himself in the past but entertaining the idea that was whispering in the back of his mind would be a new low even for him. Anyhow, he had already resolved himself to Derek getting over his church boy act and dropping him just like everyone else. Plus, Derek was a mega popular football star, it was highly unlikely he would even be into guys, especially a guy like him. Better not to get his hopes up.

Besides, why give his yet father another reason to think he was the scum of the earth?

The panic came back full force when they made it to the table, and he saw all the people he's expected to sit with. Just like Derek had said, he recognized all of them from the Psychology class. However, just because his screwed-up brain allowed him to remember people he'd only seen once in his life that didn't mean he knew them by any means. Socialization in general wasn't his forte, but this was just _asking_ for trouble.

"Well hello handsome, nice of you to finally show up!" the very brightly dressed blonde girl who sat on Derek's other side in the class sang as they approached. She turned a sweet smile towards him. "And hello you cute thing! Glad you decided to join us!"

Spencer's looked down in embarrassment, truly wondering how one got the nerve to call someone they had never met "cute". He surely didn't have it. He barely had the nerve to answer a question in class while looking the teacher in the eye. It also did not escape his notice that the blonde had called him "handsome" and from the way he saw them looking at each other, it was obvious they were either in a relationship or soon would be. Even though he had already snuffed the little flame of hope in his heart, the realization was like a bucket of water being dumped on the last soft embers. He hadn't really had any right to have that hope to begin with; they had known each other for half a day. It was just wrong for his interests to be peaked by his own stupid instincts.

Derek sat down in the empty seat beside the blonde, but Spencer remained standing, awkwardly shuffling his feet, and strangling his beloved messenger bag. Another blonde girl whom he recognized from class also, looked up at him with a smile. He had to admit she was very pretty even if she was the wrong gender. She was definitely not someone who should have been smiling at him.

"You can sit down you know. We won't bite," she joked, gesturing to an empty seat beside herself. He hesitantly sat down and lowered his bag to the floor, averting his eyes and trying to make himself as small as possible. It was a survival skill he had picked up after so many years of living with his father.

"That's debatable. I wouldn't put too much faith in Emily," called a handsome young man diagonal to his seat. He had dark brown hair with matching eyes that were twinkling with mirth and mischief. The gothic girl, Emily apparently, he had also noticed previously, and was frankly quite terrified of, flicked a grape in his direction but the other boy simply snapped it up in his mouth from the air and leaned back with a sarcastic smirk.

The final table occupant cleared his throat, and everyone looked at him expectantly. He had jet black hair with dark brown eyes, his face frozen in a light scowl, his eyebrows furrowed. Spencer was fairly certain he had been in the psychology class also, but he had been silent the entire period. "Don't you think you should introduce everyone, Derek? It's rude to just let Spencer sit there like that."

Derek's eyes momentarily flicked to him. "Oh yeah, right. Guys, you all know this is Spencer. Spencer, this bubbly phenomenon to my right is Penelope Garcia." This earned a giggle out of the brightly dressed girl and a wink in his direction.

"Your seatmate is Jennifer Jareau."

"Call me JJ," she said wit yet another soft smile on her face and an outstretched hand. Spencer eyed the hand warily, trying to think of anything but the sheer number of germs no doubt crawling across her skin at the very moment, and took it for a quick shake. No use in freaking them out further with his germaphobia.

"The moody one over there is Emily Prentiss." She scowled at Derek, who either ignored her or just didn't see it, but much to the genius' surprise, grinned at him.

"Nice to meet you, Spencer," she said with a surprisingly kind tone that was nothing like the hiss he had been expecting; she did remind him of a black cat after all.

"The jokester is David Rossi, or as we like to call him, the Italian Stallion."

He put his hands behind his head and leaned back into the wall. "Damn straight."

"And Mister Serious on the end is Aaron Hotchner, but we just call him Hotch."

Spencer briefly glanced up but immediately regretted it when he accidentally met the other teen's eyes. There was just something about them that radiated control and leadership, two things Spencer could only dream of having and shied away from at all costs. Hotch gave him a nod with the slightest twitch of his lip that could have almost been interpreted as a smirk if Spencer hadn't been too busy recoiling into himself.

"So, Spencer, I hear you're from Vegas. How good's your poker?" Rossi asked with a smirk that clearly meant he was plotting something. That aside, that had really not been the question Spencer had been expecting. He had expected to be bombarded with questions about his personal life that he would have to tip toe around and eventually just shut down until they all figured out he was useless and really a horrible person to be friends with. That's what he usually did with people who tried to be his friend in the past anyhow.

Needless to say, a question about his gambling skills was a relief. He couldn't stop the chuckle that bubbled up even as Emily smacked Dave upside the head and growled something about being obnoxious. When he looked across the table, Derek had a grin plastered on his face that Spencer swore could have lit up all of D.C.

"I guess you'll just have to find out," he murmured softly, keeping his eyes down but allowing himself to smirk as he said it.

A hearty laugh erupted from Dave. "For sure. When I'm done, you won't know what hit you. I'm the poker king."

Spencer just smiled to himself. No need to let him in on the little secret until the right time. It was in that moment however, that Spencer realized he was wearing a true, gleeful smile for the first time in, well, as far as he could remember. Maybe his luck with friendships was just about to change.


End file.
